Monday, 30 March 2015

Who Reviews Issue 8 Day of the Doctor by Jeffrey Zyra

The Day of The Doctor

By Steven Moffat

Reviewed by Jeffrey Zyra

“Gallifrey
Falls No More.”

It
is finally here.Doctor Who’s 50th
Anniversary special has finally aired and we finally get to see what John
Hurt’s Doctor is all about.All the
speculation and hypothesis that have been going on since “The Name of The
Doctor” have been at a fever pitch and the debates and discussions have heated
up on social media over the course of the summer and fall can now end.We have our answers at last. “The Day of The
Doctor” has happened and we have all seen it but was it what we expected? Was
it worthy of the hype?Will it go down
in anniversary fame as “The Three Doctors” and “The Five Doctors” before it or
did it crash and burn and disappoint like the 25th anniversary story
“The Silver Nemesis” and nothing for the 30th and 40th? Well it sure did not disappoint as “The Day
of The Doctor” turned out to be my favorite anniversary story ever.

I
usually write my reviews right after I watch the episode.Except if it is a two part story then I wait
till the whole story airs and review it at one time.“The Day of The Doctor” was the exception as
I’m writing this after I have watched it for a second time.After watching it there was a lot of discussion
with my friends at the party and I knew that I would need some time to recover
from the euphoria of watching it. I was
pretty jazzed up and really excited for what I had just seen and my emotions
were all over the place that it would be better to write this later when I was
thinking normally.Or in my case as
normal as I think most of the time, well, some of the time I guess.

I
really enjoyed the overall story for “The Day of The Doctor.”It was really good and pretty interesting and
kept me on the edge of my seat.What
made it so enticing was trying to predict what would happen next.What would the three Doctors come up with to
first stop the Zygons and then what would the two Doctors do to stop the War
Doctor from destroying Gallifrey?The
solutions Steven Moffat came up with was pretty good and it showed us a part of
the story from The War Doctor’s eyes as he was learning who he becomes and what
his actions do to his future incarnations.

Seeing
Joanna Page as Queen Elizabeth wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.I deduced that they would be tying up the
loose end that was mentioned in “The End of Time” and why she hated him in “The
Shakespeare Code”.It was just funny to
see what led to all of that in the 10th Doctor’s era.Finding out that it was a mistake just made
it pretty funny and at least now we know.Joanna Page was pretty good also even if I’m not familiar with her as I
never watched Gavin and Stacy.But she
did pretty well and was pretty funny as Elizabeth the First.

I
really liked the interaction between David Tennant and Matt Smith.The chemistry was really good and in typical
Doctor action they tried to one up the other.It was good seeing the two Doctors picking on each other and it was
really good to see the tradition made famous by Patrick Troughton and Jon
Pertwee continue on in the new series.That was always a highlight of past multi Doctor stories and seeing the
two compare sonic screwdrivers was pretty funny and classic.

I
enjoyed seeing the Zygons back.First
time we have seen them on TV since the Tom Baker story “The Terror of the
Zygons” back in 1975.At first when I
heard they were going to be in “The Day of The Doctor” I thought they would
only have a token appearance.Glad my
theory was wrong as it was good to see them have a part in the story and are
important to the final solution in a small way.I really liked how they were used and
seeing them again after so many years was itself a treat as they have been
constantly being near the top of favorite villains fan polls for a long time
and they do have a pretty good fan following so it was good to see them
return.Plus the Zygons are David
Tennant’s favorite creatures so maybe that factored into it but I doubt
it.

The
Time War scenes were spectacular.For a
long time I’ve been wondering and speculating about this period in the Doctor’s
time line and now we get to see a small part of it.Even though it was the end of the war it was
good to see the Daleks who are also celebrating a 50th Anniversary
this year.What we see is a Doctor who
is tired and sick of the war who leaves a message for both participants.It is interesting to see The Doctor grab a
weapon that would destroy his planet.It
is very unlike The Doctor to resort to this type of solution.This where the story really gets good as the
Moment is a weapon that has a conscious.Played perfectly by Billie Piper the weapon acted like a ghost of
Christmas future showing The Doctor what his consequences would do to him.I really liked this part of the story as it gave
us a new dimension to watch when they were battling the Zygons.All this led to the Three Doctor’s going back
to the time where the War Doctor presses the button on the Moment which will
result in the destruction of Gallifrey.This was a pretty powerful scene as we see Clara really comes into her
own.She is the one who convinces The
Doctor’s or more specifically the 11th Doctor.She was able to make them change their minds
and come up with a new solution.It was
a solution where The Doctor is not a mass murderer but a saver.The Doctor saves Gallifrey instead of
destroying it by putting it in a pocket universe.

Now
I don’t believe this is a reset switch as we have seen Gallifrey before trying
to break free from that pocket dimension. If you remember we see a Gallifrey
with Time Lords still alive trying to come back and destroying Earth in the
process back in “The End of Time.”Now
if Gallifrey had been destroyed by the Doctor’s then that moment would not have
happened.Steven Moffat gave a way for
The Doctor to remember them and to search for the Time Lords to bring his
planet back to the new series but in their proper space and time.

John
Hurt was really good as The Doctor.He
gave us a sense of experience and to a point was the straight guy to the
comedic styles of David Tennant and Matt Smith’s Doctors.It kind of reminded me of William Hartnell a
little bit from “The Three Doctor” but just a little.John Hurt had really good chemistry with
David Tennant and Matt Smith that you wish they had longer together.His performance was magnificent and it made
me wishing we had a series for his Doctor.I really ended up liking The War
Doctor as he had a certain aspect to him that just made him likeable.Probably the hurt on his face and in his eyes
of what he has seen during the war.Plus
he did have that Doctor quirkiness and personality to go with all that and it
was something different.

Now
for the fanboy moments. There were a lot of them that just made me emotional
and happy to be a Doctor Who fan. Now I have been a Doctor who fan since 1981
and for most of my life I have watched the show and I love it.Now I had a feeling the Classic Doctor’s
would not be in the show.Realistically
they are a lot older and well that would be too much for one story.But what they did when they went to save
Gallifrey by using old clips of the older Doctor’s was such a classy move and I
totally loved it.All The Doctors
uniting at the end to save Gallifrey including the new Doctor Peter Capaldi for
a brief cameo.That sequence of events
was really amazing and awesome and the fanboy in me screamed with delight.It made this older Doctor Who fan happy.

What
really got me though was the inclusion of Tom Baker.Seeing him as the curator and talking to Matt
Smith as the 4th Doctor really made the Anniversary Special for
me.It was such a special moment seeing
the oldest and longest serving Doctor, who at the time of the 20th
declined to be in The Five Doctors, in the show again.It was a great moment and he sure has not
lost any of that charm that has made him the best Doctor ever.I was grinning with delight and was extremely
happy that Tom Baker was in it. To me it felt like a nod to the fans of both
series and it was just a special moment that we will be able to watch forever.

Then
there was the end when Matt Smith goes out of the TARDIS and stands with his
former selves.That was truly spectacular
even if the other Doctors faces were paintings. I just loved that moment and it
was a great way to end a wonderful anniversary special.Steven Moffat delivered an amazing story that
will go down as his masterpiece.“The
Day of The Doctor” was a wonderful story for the 50th and one that
was worth the wait of a year for.